Category: Chemistry

Another Year, Another Great Set of Blog Posts!

Welcome back to Andover! I am sure for a lot of you, it has been a great summer, but it is time to get back into the swing of things!

We have a lot of great things planned for you this year! Be sure to check out one (or more!) of our amazing Science classes this year!

If you are enjoying your Science class or have a Science-related independent project and would like to write one (or more!) blog post – let Ms. Andersen know at randersen@andover.edu! It can even count as your work duty… (!!!!!)

Get to know the retiring Science Faculty with this week’s Mornings with MAC!

Guest Post by Michael Codrington ’18

Ladies and gentlemen, you must’ve had a lonely Wednesday morning last week without Mornings with MAC and I apologize for that. However, we have an exciting retiring faculty Morning with MAC. I was able to interview 3 Andover greats, Dr. Stern, Mr. Cone and Dr. Watt. With a combined 96 total years of teaching (16+51+29), it’s safe to say they’re veterans of PA. First up is Dr. Stern. Stern taught me for a total of 5.5 weeks when I thought that Chemistry 300 was the way to go. 300 had other plans… So, I eventually dropped down to 250. But, I will always remember Stern for his Charisma and willingness to help.

MC: What do you teach at Andover?
DS: Chemistry 250, 300, 550, and IPs. It’s been varied, but I enjoy it.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover?
DS: I’ve been here for 16 years. Day 1 was a very famous day – 9/11/2001.

MC: Really?
DS: Absolutely, it was my first day at Andover, ever teaching in a high school. I taught very briefly in a Bronx high school for a couple of months, but that was temporary. The all school meeting was on that first day of class. It was a beautiful Tuesday. The seniors were yelling 02, 02, 02!

MC: What brought you here?
DS: Before I was at Andover, I was selling high quality chemistry instruments, Spectrometers. It was about a 20,000 dollar instrument and I sold to Temba Macabela. He taught the organic chemistry class and organic chemists love this thing called Infrared Spectrometers.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study?
DS: I went to Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and got a bachelor of science degree. I could’ve gotten a bachelor of arts and taken different courses, more english and history courses. But the bachelor of science degree meant I had to take more physics and chemistry. It was very rigorous. Then I went to grad school and got a PhD in Analytical Chemistry.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
DS: The energy of the students. Every September, I would see new faces and new students and meeting them the first couple of weeks, slowly learning names and 9th grade boys soccer. Haha, That was a fun experience.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching chemistry, what other discipline would you be in?
DS: Probably math. I love math, I love plane geometry. I could teach you some algebra, not like these Phillips guys, but I know a decent amount. I loved how it was a puzzle. You figure it out with all your information. It’s great.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
DS: I’ve got a lot of favorites, you wouldn’t know ’em though, so I love “Casablanca”. “Saturday Night Fever”, took place in Brooklyn about the New York scene. I love the James Bond movies of course. “12 Angry Men”, took place in the Bronx, about a big court case and really shows the prejudices from the time and that are still there in the Bronx. I don’t know I could watch a movie yesterday and forget the name.

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
DS: Grade-wise I’m fair but hard. I could use a pun, I’m very stern…
MC: …
DS and MC: Hahahaha!
DS: But yeah, I grade a little difficult, but I understand that I’m teaching high school kids college chemistry and it blows my mind when I see one of them in a theater production or something like that.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
DS: They don’t know that I love to dance and rock and roll and that my favorite rock and roll band is The Stones.

Next on the roster is Mr. Cone. Cone boasts 51 total years of Andover teaching experience, having been able to both teach and teach alongside many Andover alums like Ms. Elliott ‘94, Mr. Ventre ‘71, and fellow science teacher Mr. Faulk ‘00.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover and what do you teach?
TC: I’ve been here 51 years.

MC: Wow, that’s a really long time.
TC: Hahaha! I’ve taught first year Biology for many years, the name keeps changing. I’ve taught AP level Bio, I’ve taught Biology 500. I’ve taught term-contained courses. The last 20 plus years I’ve taught term contained courses for seniors, mostly. Animal Behavior in the fall, Microbiology in the winter and Ornithology in the spring.

MC: What brought you here?
TC: Well, I was overseas in the Peace Corps and my father was retiring from the Navy, he was a doctor at Harvard, and since I was coming back from the Corps, I wanted to live somewhere in New England and I applied to teach at a bunch of these New England Preparatory Schools.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study?
TC: I went to Trinity College in Hartford and I majored in Biology and minored in Education.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
TC: Wonderful student body. It’s always exciting, active, interesting students. Science faculty has always been superb. A beauty of a school like this is you have a number of teachers in the same department.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching biology, what other discipline would you be in?
TC: I enjoy history a lot, I think it would probably be the history department.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
TC: Uh.. a recent movie or?

MC: It’s up to you I don’t really know, haha!
TC: My favorite movie when I was a kid growing up was “High Noon” with Gary Cooper – 1951. Also loved “African Queen” with Humphrey Bogart.

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
TC: I’d say somewhere in the middle. Students do what I ask them to do and they’ll do well. If they take good notes they should be fine. I want them to do well, that’s the point of a teacher. It’s like being a coach. When my students took APs, I wish I was in there with ’em, I mean I obviously couldn’t be, but I wish I could.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
TC: Don’t know about me? When you say a lot of people you mean like you or like…

MC: Yeah, I mean uhh.. Like.. I don’t know…
TC: Hahaha, it’s ok. Well in class, we joked about having animals and I had a black mamba as a pet. There was this long black snake in Liberia that was my favorite.

MC: That’s insane.
TC: It was a party, haha!

MC: Thank you, Mr. Cone it was great to meet you.
TC: You too, have a good one.

Last on the roster is Dr. Watt. I learn physics in the classroom next to Watt everyday during 4th period, but I have never really met him before. I immediately regretted that because he is hilarious. I sat down with Watt in his office at Gelb 222.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover and what do you teach?
DW: Physics and Geology. 29 years, which is nothing compared to Mr. Cone.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study? What brought you to Andover?
DW: I went to college in a place called Dalhousie in Canada, I got my bachelors and masters in Physics. I got my PhD at Harvard. Then I was a research fellow at the University of Colorado for a year then I was a research fellow at the seismological lab at CalTech for a year. I was trying to raise research funds for graduate students and it was hard for me to raise money and do science, so I decided why not come to some place with great teachers and great students.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
DW: The enthusiasm of the students.

MC: Favorite song?
DW: Nothing. Oh dear, I’ve got nothing, next one.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching biology, what other discipline would you be in?
DW: Likely Mathematics.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
DW: Harold and Maude

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
DW: Yes

MC: Hahaha! What?
DW: Haha! I try to cover the material, but I also try and be sympathetic of the students because I know they have a lot going on and it’s hard so I’d have to say I’m reasonable.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
DW: I’m from Canada.

That concludes Mornings with MAC for the 2016-2017 academic year. It’s been real and you can look out for a new edition coming in the fall of 2017. Have a great summer!

Get to Know Your Science Faculty with your Weekly Installment of Mornings with MAC!

GUEST POST BY MICHAEL CODRINGTON ’18

On this week’s Mornings with MAC, we have former Andover student and Chemistry Department Chair, Mr. Faulk. Brian Faulk was Andover class of 2000, having shared parts of his Andover experience with many faculty including Natalie Wombwell ‘01 and Terrell Ivory ‘00.

Faulk taught my last term of Chemistry 250, and definitely offered a challenge. Gifting me the nickname MC3+, after one of the ions we worked with, it’s safe to say me and Mr. Faulk had a good relationship. I sat down with him during his morning coffee to ask him some questions.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover?
BF: I’ve worked here for 10 years.

MC: What brought you here?
BF: As a student I was really inspired by my teachers not just my classroom teachers but my coaches and my academic advisor. I thought it’d be cool to come back and serve in those roles as a faculty member.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study?
BF: I went to Stanford to study chemistry and Harvard for grad school to study chemistry.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
BF: I think my favorite thing is the people – both students and faculty, it’s a really rich and vibrant community and that makes it fun to come to work everyday.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching chemistry, what other discipline would you be in?
BF: History. Probably history – I love history and I’d probably do something with the Civil War.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
BF: What?

MC: What is your favorite movie?
BF: I really like Patton.

MC: Like the General?
BF: Yeah, they won an Academy Award. It was a great film.

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
BF: I’m sure the students would say I’m difficult. I have high expectations, but I always want to do what’s best for the students. I want to coach them along to learn as much as possible.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
BF: I think it’s probably that I love history, and it’s my passion. Sometimes I wish I was a history teacher. I read a lot of history magazines in my free time.

MC: I understand you went to Andover. How was that experience and who was your favorite teacher from when you were a student?
BF: It was tough at times, but I certainly learned a lot, how to work and manage my time, how to ask for help. It prepared me everything after. I think my favorite teacher was Henningsen, recently retired. He was just really good and brilliant. A great historian and a great teacher.

Students and Alumni help clean up Thompson Island on Earth Day

The words non sibi, meaning “not for self,” have served as a motto for Phillips Academy ever since 1782 when they were designed into the school’s seal by Paul Revere. Today, as then, the words speak to the school’s mission to educate students in a way that combines knowledge and goodness and inspires them to think not only of themselves but of others as well. To be good global citizens. To serve and lead.

Therefore, around Earth Day every year, students, faculty, and alum volunteer for certain community service activities. These activities range from volunteering at a food bank or soup kitchen to cleaning up neighboring parks and community areas.

Dean of Studies and Biology Instructor, Trish Russell was part of a group who helped clean up Thompson Island in Boston Harbor, an outdoor education operation that serves the Boston Public Schools run by Outward Bound. To learn more about this great organization, visit https://thompsonisland.org/.

The first African-American woman to travel to space speaks to the Andover Community

Guest Post by Isabelle Bicks ’18

Last Friday evening, Andover had the privilege to welcome Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American woman to travel to space, accomplished physician, and lifelong dancer. Her vast knowledge and passion for science were palpable, but I was most interested by the connection Dr. Jemison made between the arts and sciences. As both a ballet dancer and biology student, I loved that she drew from both seemingly opposite experiences to illustrate how she was a pioneer in her career. Dancing has been such an integral part in my own life and has most certainly impacted how I work as a student at Andover. Dr. Jemison explained that the arts are the study of ourselves, while science is the study of the world around us. I had never before realized this connection. Although our world today tends to compartmentalize people and label them as either gifted math/science people or arts and humanities people, Dr. Jemison completely disrupted this tendency and explained how her own passion for the arts translated into the successful career she leads. I think that these ideas about integrating arts and sciences can be utilized at Andover. Bridging the curriculum between the two disciplines seems necessary and beneficial. At a school that strives to achieve “empathy and balance,” Dr. Jemison was the perfect speaker to embody these qualities.

The Science Faculty had an opportunity to attend a reception with Ms. Jemison and here is a bonus photo of her with Carol Artacho (physics), Sheena Hilton (chemistry), Caroline Odden (physics), and Fei Yao (physics).

Today’s Vernal Equinox also brings the start of the Spring Term at Phillips Academy

This morning, Monday, March 20th, at 6:29am marks the vernal equinox and the official arrival of Spring. Though, it does not look very spring-like outside the Gelb Science Center.

During the vernal equinox, “the sun’s most direct rays cross over from the southern hemisphere into the northern hemisphere. During this process, the sun is shining directly over the earth’s equator, bathing the earth’s northern and southern hemispheres in nearly an equal amount of sunlight.

Instead of a tilt away from or toward the sun, the Earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the Earth and the sun during an equinox. During the equinox, both day and night are balanced to nearly 12 hours each all over the world.

Good news for those [of us] in the northern hemisphere: Daylight continues to grow longer until the summer solstice, which occurs on Wednesday, June 21. The opposite occurs in the southern hemisphere, where daylight continues to grow shorter toward their winter solstice on the same day.”*

An introduction to Andover’s new STEM-based Magazine

The Phillips Academy students have published a new STEM Magazine – Blue Moon – a magazine of student-written research papers and articles.

Blue Moon was created as a platform for STEM research, as a means by which students can exercise the final step of the scientific method: communication. It aims to foster curiosity and cooperation in both its writers and its readers. Bi-annual print publications are made possible by a grant from the Abbot Academy Association, continuing Abbot’s tradition of boldness, innovation, and caring. Issue I of Blue Moon spotlights the diversity of student interest within the sciences, topics ranging from immunotherapy to gender discrimination to prosthetics. (*from the inside cover of Issue I)

We spoke with Amanda Li, ’18 who pioneered this project, which has been about two years in the making, thus far. During her freshman spring, she began to look for a place on campus to share a paper she had written. When she could not find an outlet on campus, she began to formulate the idea of a student scientific publication.

“Seeing as there wasn’t any such thing yet, I reached out to students from different grades and backgrounds to see if they were interested in a STEM journal. The overwhelming response was yes, so I decided to take some action and hopefully allow other students to share their research and ideas. It also allows new students to start exploring various STEM areas, by allowing them to read about the interests that their peers hold.” -Amanda Li, ’18

She applied for an Abbot Grant in her lower fall to fund the publication of bi-annual issues. She received full funding and got to work! She gathered editors, graphic designers, and potential writers during her lower spring and summer. They officially started Blue Moon last fall and they have received over 30 articles so far!

“I’m really grateful for the AAA’s support, otherwise I doubt this would be possible. I’m looking forward to start the process of making the next issue!” -Amanda Li, ’18

If you are interested in learning more or reading the many articles submitted, visit bluemoonjournal.com. They are always looking for submissions and feedback!

On the first full day of classes, the Division of Natural Sciences would like to WELCOME all new students to PA and WELCOME BACK all returning students!

As you can see by the photos above, our Gelb Garden has flourished throughout the summer and we will continue to use these plots as a teaching tool in our Biology Classes. We are excited about the new year and new possibilities!

Chem 200 Visits the Addison Art Gallery to Learn About the Chemical History of Photography

Guest Post by Sofie Brown ’18

Our Chem 200 class was a little bit surprised when Mr. Robinson told us that we would be taking a class field trip to campus’ Addison Gallery of American Art. Chemistry is usually not something associated with art museums but Chem 200 was there to take the sometimes abstract and hard to understand equations and formulas and apply them to photography.

Before the trip, the class divided up into pairs to research the different types and chemical processes involved the history of the creation of photographs. We researched the Daguerreotype, Tin type, Ambrotype, Albumen Prints, and Gelatin Silver Prints. All of these photograph types uses a different chemical process to create the image and by looking at the chemical processes involved in the creation we could trace the history of photographs.

By looking at rare old photographs and sharing our research we discussed how chemical advances have made photography more accessible which has significantly altered the country’s memory and way of looking at history. Photography made memory visual and became the most democratic way of capturing the stories of all people, not just those who could afford to have their portraits painted. Chemical advances took photography from using large equipment in many steps with many poisonous chemicals to print a fragile easily faded photo to a small two step process on paper that is durable and cheap. Photographers would take large wagons of equipment and glass around with them to Civil War battlefields in order to photograph soldiers and the fields of dead when photography first came to prominence. Soldiers also often had Daguerreotypes taken (the classic framed black and white head shot). Gradually, Daguerreotypes evolved to be printed on tin and cheaper and more durable and then eventually became a two step process and printed on paper.

The digital photographs we have today would not be possible without the chemical advances in photography over many, many years. Learning about the chemistry of photographs offered our class real world applications and implications of the molecules and elements we struggle to fit into formulas and categories in the classroom.

My Bio 100 students attended the lecture and wrote reflective responses. They were inspired, even transfixed and calling the presentation “magical,” commenting on Jane Goodall as a person and a mind. They remarked on her determination to follow her childhood dreams in spite of lack of resources, her empathy with animals and connection to nature, her rejection of authority and stodgy scientific biases and conventions, her passionate and tireless work, her humanity, and her invocation of a global community made up of responsible beings concerned with common good. As the students’ teacher I felt pretty inspired by not just Goodall but by these students. I also feel determined to spend more time outside in Bio 100! ~ Anna Milkowski, Biology Instructor

This talk meant a lot to Tom Cone, Biology Instructor and part of the Campus Beautification Committee, who has fought to protect so many things in “our” natural world – including the Cherry Tree between Morse and Sam Phil.